SOVVIKG. 35 



quantity of seed sown is large, and is generally as much 

 as three bushels per acre ; though many intelligent far- 

 mers use only two-thirds of that quantity." 



M. Van Aelbroeck, whom we have already quoted, 

 states, that the usual Flemish practice is to sow about 

 180 -pounds of flax-seed on the mesure of forty-five ares 

 (somewhat less than an English acre), more or less, ac- 

 cording to the quality of the seed and the goodness of 

 the soil. He has observed, that it is much better to sow 

 abundantly than too thinly ; for in the latter case, the 

 fineness of the flax is deteriorated or destroyed. The 

 pound he mentions weighs two ounces more than the 

 English pound. 



In the Pas de Calais, they sow a Jiectolitre of flax-seed 

 to the mesure, which corresponds as near as may be to 

 three bushels per English acre. The French hectolitre is 

 equal to a fraction more than two and four-fifths Winches- 

 ter bushels. The mes-ure is a measure of land which 

 varies in different districts of France. In the present 

 case, it is equivalent to forty-two ares and twenty cen- 

 tiares (the are = 3'955 English perches), and is conse- 

 quently less than an English acre. Three bushels an acre, 

 therefore, is the smallest amount of seed we would venture 

 to recommend. Parsimony in seed is the greatest practical 

 mistake which a flax-grower can make. We, therefore, 

 give a wood-cut representing a little bit cut out of a 

 flax-field, of the natural size, to show how thick the plants 

 ought to come up in a well-sown field (see pi. II.). 

 Thinner sown than in this specimen, the flax would not 

 prove so good a sample. Some English writers speak of 

 sowing nine pecks, others two bushels of flax-seed to the 

 acre ; but it is not enough, in the opinion of French 

 liniers, who hold such a small amount of seed to be very 

 false economy. 



On the continent, flax is always sown broad-cast, never 

 drilled. Flax-sowing is a nice operation, to get the crop 

 even, and requires considerable practice and steadiness of 

 hand. For sowing, perfectly calm weather is the state of 

 the atmosphere to be chosen, when possible ; but if there 

 D 2 



